1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices and methods for introducing hot air into pneumatic conveying systems, and specifically to an induction box for introducing hot air into a stream of seed cotton being pneumatically conveyed along a path to a cotton gin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the United States, seed cotton is brought to the cotton gin in two different ways. If it is brought to the gin in trailers, it will normally be unloaded and delivered into the gin pneumatically using a suction telescope. The seed cotton may also be brought to the cotton gin in the form of modules, which are compacted blocks of seed cotton about 8 feet wide, 8 feet high and 32 feet long. Modules can be fed into the cotton gin by using the conventional suction telescope, but a module feeder is more commonly used for this purpose.
The module feeder has a disperser which operates on the end of the module to disintegrate the module so the seed cotton can be conveyed and processed in the usual manner. The disperser progresses through the module at a controlled speed in order to produce the desired flow rate of seed cotton into the gin. In one type of feeder, the module is placed on a moving bed which feeds it into a stationary disperser.
Another type places the modules end to end on a long concrete slab. The disperser moves along this slab chewing up the modules and delivering the fractionated seed cotton into a belt conveyor alongside the slab. At the end of the conveyor, the seed cotton is picked up pneumatically from the belt to be taken into the cotton gin. The velocity of the air used to pick up the seed cotton can be adjusted so that only seed cotton is picked up, leaving rocks and green bolls on the belt. These travel into another conveyor for different disposition.
It is a common occurrence for the harvested seed cotton, whether in trailers or in modules, to be exposed to rain or snow before it is ginned. This is more often a problem with modules because they are sometimes left in the fields for several weeks before the cotton gin is ready to receive them. Such wet seed cotton is difficult to convey pneumatically, and the wet fiber tends to clog the perforations in the device which separates the conveying air from the incoming seed cotton. It is obviously desirable to use hot air for the first transport of the seed cotton in order to dry it somewhat.
Hot air has been used in this manner in some instances. Heretofore, it has been considered necessary to pass the seed cotton through a rotary air lock at its entrance into the stream of hot air. Such installations have usually involved module feeders with stationary dispersers in which the rotary air lock was installed in a pit below the disperser.
Where the moving disperser is used, it has been possible to do this, but with significant disadvantages. In some installations, a rotary air lock has been installed in a pit below the discharge end of the belt conveyor. This involves not only the expense of constructing the pit but the danger of its flooding in rainy weather. More significant is the loss of ability to leave the rocks and green bolls outside the gin.